The National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced that three Nigerian superstars – GRAMMY® Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer Burna Boy, 2023 GRAMMY Award-winning singer and Oscar-nominated singer and producer Tems and rapper and singer Rema – will headline the NBA All-Star Game 2023 halftime show with an Afrobeats-themed performance.
After the performance, the NBA family will honor LeBron James for becoming the league’s all-time scoring leader. The 72nd NBA All-Star Game will tip off at 8:30 p.m. ET at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City and air on TNT.
Prior to tip-off, global superstar Post Malone will perform a medley of hits following the first-ever in-arena NBA All-Star Draft (7:30 p.m. ET), and Vin Diesel, star of the upcoming “Fast X” movie, will welcome fans to the evening.
Payson, Utah, native and GRAMMY Award-nominated artist Jewel will sing the U.S. national anthem and Juno Award-winning and platinum-selling artist Jully Black will sing the Canadian national anthem on Sunday for the NBA All-Star Game.
Utah singing group The Bonner Family will perform the U.S. national anthem before the 2023 Jordan Rising Stars, which will be played on Friday, Feb. 17 at 9 p.m. ET on TNT. As previously announced, the group will also perform the U.S. national anthem and the Black national anthem, Lift Every Voice, at the NBA HBCU Classic presented by AT&T, which will tip off on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 4 p.m. ET on TNT, ESPN2 and NBA TV.
Catch the performances and the rest of the weekend’s exciting activities on ESPN, Canal Plus and NBA TV (https://www.nba.com/watch/league-pass-stream )
The major inclusion of Burna Boy, Tems and Rema in the halftime show is another acknowledgment of the global takeover of the Afrobeats sound, cultivated by musicians and fans over the years, and which has penetrated the West in recent times.